weekly Torah reading from Genesis 44:18-47:27
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What happened to Canaan during the famine after Yaakov et al went down to Egypt?
During the famine Yosef collected all the money in both Egypt and Canaan. In the following year Yosef acquired ownership of all the land in Egypt (except the priests') for Paro, but it says nothing ...
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3answers
81 views
Source of Midrash regarding Yaakov's saying Shema
There is a famous Rashi in Parashat Vayigash (46:29) where Rashi explains that Yaakov didn't cry on Yosef's shoulders because he was reciting Shema. He cryptically quotes this in the name of ...
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0answers
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Learning b'iyun vs. b'qius
When I was in yeshiva, I heard a story that I wouldn't mind having verified. Apparantly, two individuals once argued over whether b'iyun (בעיון; "in-depth", commentary-focused) learning or b'qius ...
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0answers
67 views
Famine in Egypt
Question: How can there be a famine in egypt?
Parshas Miketz and Vayigash discuss a famine in Egypt and the world. Rashi's comments to Eikev 11:10 that the Nile's annual flooding was critical for ...
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1answer
179 views
How did Yosef showing his circumcision prove anything?
Rashi to 45:4 says that when Yosef told his brothers to approach him, it was to show them his circumcision (presumably to prove he was Jewish). But how would that prove anything? All of Egypt had been ...
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2answers
287 views
Goshen, the most immoral part of Mitzrayim
Rashi on Vayikra 18:3 says (as understood by the Mizrachi) that the most immoral part of Mitzrayim was Goshen, where the Jews had settled — indeed, according to B'reshis 45:10, Yosef chose it as ...
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3answers
148 views
Unusual number of males among the 70 who went to Egypt
B'reshis chapter 46 lists the seventy descendants of Yaakov who went to Egypt. It actually lists sixty-nine: let's assume Yocheved was the seventieth, as Rashi explains. It also lists (in pasuk 12) ...
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1answer
43 views
Seeking source of explanation of ולא יכל יוסף להתאפק
וְלֹא יָכֹל יוֹסֵף לְהִתְאַפֵּק — Yosef could not forbear (Gen. 45:1) — but had he done so, had he completed the brothers' reconciliation that he had started, then the kingdom would ...
5
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1answer
86 views
Questions about the Beginning of Vayechi
My Torah Tidbits this shabbat told me that Vayigash is the only Parsha in the Torah to end before a "paragraph break". (Is this true?)
This got me to look more closely at the beginning of Vayechi, ...
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2answers
397 views
If shepherds are taboo to Egyptians, what do we make of them having sheep themselves?
Yosef tells his family to say they're shepherds because that's taboo to Egypt:
you must say, 'We and our fathers have dealt in livestock all our lives'. You will then be able to settle in the ...
4
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1answer
60 views
Was Binyamin aware of Tzofnas Paaneach (aka Yosef)'s true identity?
While Yosef recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.
I heard a Rosh Yeshiva suggest that Binyamin, who wasn't so absorbed in the soap opera, was able to recognize Yosef, but played ...
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6answers
218 views
Why Didn't Yosef tell Yaakov He was Still Alive?
What do the meforshim say on why Yosef didn't tell Yaakov he was still alive? Do any critique him?
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2answers
128 views
Understanding Rashi's resolution of an ambiguity in Parashat Vayigash
The following is based on a question I wrote in the margin of my chumash about ten years ago.
In Yehuda's speech to the Egyptian viceroy (Yosef in disguise) at the beginning of Parashat Vayigash, he ...
